‘We’d find pieces of flesh stuck to the logs’

That day Bhola woke up startled At first his small body felt like leadmdashtoo fatigued and heavy to movemdashbut he managed to push himself to his feet There was no time to splash water on his face or change clothes they had to hurry More time at the masaan meant more moneyldquoEk tarah ka nasha bann gaya tha voh It had become an intoxicationrdquo Shortcut admits when he talks about foraging for shrouds as a childOutside everything was blanketed in a thick layer of darkness Daylight was yet to make an appearance The boys quickly made their way through Chand Ghat A solitary street light flickered in the distance Brownwinged moths whirled under itmdasha mesmeric golden blur The narrow gali ahead was deserted A stray dog appeared out of nowhere and started barking Two other indie dogs caught up with him lifted their bony heads and began to howlldquoWhat if theyrsquove seen a ghostrdquo Shortcut asked fearfully trying to keep his voice lowBhola said nothing He grabbed Shortcutrsquos hand and sprinted in the opposite direction swerving to take the longer routeldquoHurryrdquo Shortcut yelled one foot chasing the other ldquoWe have to make sure that the ghost doesnrsquot catch usrdquoRadhika IyengarBhola held on to the waist of his shorts which were threatening to slip off ldquoForget about the ghostrdquo he answered breathless heels kicking against his bottom ldquoWe have to make sure we reach the cremation ground before the Rajghat boys dordquoAt Manikarnika the competition was fierce There were at least 1215 other boys who wanted exactly what they did a sprawl of salvaged castawaysmdashtasselled patterned bordered made of cotton silk and faux silk in radiant hues of gold orange and deep red The Rajghat boys in particular were always competing with them They were unafraid to rouse trouble and took delight in grabbing and pushing the younger boys from the Chand Ghat gang when the older ones were not aroundWhen Bhola and Shortcut arrived the ghat itself was poorly lit but clusters of pyres glowed fiercely A snaggletoothed boy was already sifting through a pile of shrouds dumped near the river The other Rajghat boys hadnrsquot arrived yet Bhola signalled to Shortcut to ignore the kid and inspect other parts of the cremation ground They had to find the spot that had the most number of goodquality shroudsShortcut was still learning the ropes He was short and skinny with a trusting disposition Being the youngest in his family he had lived a relatively cocooned existence brought up to believe in the niceness in everyone until proven otherwise He was reticent while the other boys were wild and raucous He stuck close to Bhola often lacing his fingers with the older boyrsquos as a habit He was willing to follow Bhola anywhere and Bhola went where there were shroudsA man is seen unloading wood from a boat to be used at the crematorium grounds in Varanasi Boys from the Dom community are often sent by mothers to procure firewood from the pyres for their choolahs the boys ldquopull out the burnt logs of wood and drown them in water for a few minutesrdquo before walking back home with the bundleThe first time Shortcut saw a corpse he was five years old The body had just arrived from the postmortem building The dead manrsquos face was slashed his left eye and sunken belly had been sewn up He was also missing a hand At the time the little boy was aghast For weeks to come the corpsersquos ghoulish face would visit him every night starring in the most twisted nightmares But Shortcut could not stay at home and sulk even if he wanted to For one his family needed the money and second he would be laughed at by his older and meaner teammates All things considered it was best if Shortcut feigned some kind of valourGoing forward to avoid seeing the faces of the dead and their dismembered pieces the boy promised himself that he would learn how to become ldquohighspeedrdquo on his feet and keep his eyes on the ground when the corpses arrivedThe kids became experts at sorting Deep red shrouds with circular gold motifs and shimmering tassels are the most sought after The kids nicknamed it ldquogodhvardquo because it looked similar to the rich cloth that is draped on a marersquos back at a wedding The cloth was the ldquofancyrdquo unrivalled kind ldquoThis shroud would be placed on a person who came from a lsquohighfirsquo homemdasha rich manrsquos homerdquo Shortcut says If bargained well a godhva could be resold to the shopkeepers for Rs 15 which was a high resale price for the shroud pickersA cotton shroud resold at Rs 10 per piece The children called it ldquooonwardquo It wasnrsquot as shimmery as the godhva but it was the next best thing ldquoIt had patterns made of goldcoloured threadrdquo Shortcut describes Then there were iridescent gold and silver shrouds which were abundant and plasticky in appearance They were dubbed ldquopapadrdquo due to their annoyingly crispy feel At the time papads resold for Rs 23 Most of the time there were more papads strewn about at Manikarnika Ghat than godhvas or oonwasThe truly unsalvageable shrouds were used by them as hauling material The younger boys sent by mothers to procure firewood from the pyres for their choolahs would skilfully pull out the burnt logs of wood using a pair of bamboo sticks and drown them in water for a few minutes before tying them in the soiled shrouds and walking back home with the bundleldquoEvery Dom boy has grown up carrying wood from the cremation groundrdquo Bhola tells me ldquoAt times the weight of the wood was double that of our tiny bodies Sometimes wersquod even find pieces of flesh stuck to the logsrdquoTo find a godhva or oonwa took sustained effort It required standing for long hours amidst raging pyres and keeping an eye on the shroud draped on a corpse closely guarded by shavyatrismdashmale relatives who travelled with a corpse It required patience and intuition the ability to anticipate the exact moment when the shavyatris would be distracted allowing the boys to swoop in and do the deed The waiting game required strategy While they waited the children would be drenched in sweat their lips dry their throats parched As Shortcut puts it ldquoIt felt as though all the blood had left our bodiesrdquoEven among the boys at the ghat Shortcut was the youngest and the shortest He was seldom given the tougher job of working near the burning pyres The older boys did the hard work of pilfering the shrouds Shortcut was in charge of safely securing them in a gunny bag ldquoIf I was somehow unable to do that or if I left them piled up in one place our rivals would steal them or the older Dom men who disapproved of our work would throw the pile in the fire so that we couldnrsquot earn any money from themrdquoShortcut would search for and find castaway cement sacks at the cremation groundmdashdirty and frayed On a good day the children managed to shove 20 even 25 shrouds into the bag Bhola and Shortcut would collect as many shrouds as possible sling them onto their backs and head home where they would freshen up bathe and eat whatever there was at home By 10 am the pair was back at the cremation ground for round two hawkeyed and nimble even though their legs ached Aakash and other children like Bholarsquos older brothers would also arrive by then and begin scavenging for shroudsExcerpted with permission from Fire on the Ganges Life among the Dead in Banaras by Radhika Iyengar HarperCollins India